Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Is Real Reporting on Kenya So Hard?

Kenya’s recent election, held on 4
March, passed off without major incident.It yielded a victor—by a razor-thin and contested margin—and observers
generally believed it to be “free and fair”.The country did not combust in mass violence, and Kenyans did not set
about what certain elements in the fourth estate would have us believe to be
Africa’s “national” pastime, chopping each other to bits.

And the only thing that’s sad about this
not-very-shocking turn of events is that I get the sense from some commentators
in the media that they’re a bit disappointed.Conflict and war and famine and disease are, after all, about the only
things that get Africa into our news here in the U.S. and in Europe.

The most pathetic example of this
bloodlust on the part of western media came in the form of an AP
article on FOX titled “Kenya media outlets practice self-censorship to keep
election tensions down”. Therein, a
bemused journalist wrote unblushingly, “It’s the biggest news of the year in
Kenya: a presidential election with huge potential for violence”.Lest you think maybe that just came off the
press sounding wrong, it goes on: “Why then are the headlines so boring, the TV
broadcasts so dull?The answer: Kenyan media
are self-censoring to avoid fanning the flames of conflict”.

What self-censorship I saw from here did
not look particularly egregious, but I think that what the article meant was
that the media wasn’t making things up, saying absurd things about violence, or
trying to create good copy in a way that toyed with people’s safety.From the perspective of media here, however,
there’s no other reason besides the
violence to report on a place like Kenya, so perhaps it’s understandable that
they were baffled as Kenyans reported on the election as though it was an
election instead of the bloodbath western journalists seem to have been hoping
to see unfold from the edge of their seats.

So what would I prefer the media cover?

Well, think about how we would expect
them to cover an election in the United States.

Journalists try to work out which issues
are on people’s minds.They often
evaluate the political platforms of various candidates.They frequently compare the two and see how
well they match up, and why they might or might not.They write, in concrete terms, about the
various interests (social, commercial, political, etc) which have an interest
in the election.They provide context
for this information, about our economy, for example.They highlight hot-button issues.

Kenya, like the United States, is a
country of much economic, social, ethnic, and cultural diversity, so there is
plenty of work for journalists to do in assessing people’s interests and
ambitions across its varied geographies and demographies.

Reporters could focus on the Kenyan economy.They could inform readers about the country’s
more significant industries, their geographical relation to one another, and the
labour conditions and lives of the people who work in these industries.They could describe the character of foreign
investment, and investigate whether investors have a stake in the presidential
or parliamentary elections.

As most articles mention, Kenyans
overhauled their constitution in August of 2010, a move then heralded as the
ushering in of the Second Republic.The
overhaul changed the relationship between different levels of government, and
is designed to devolve more power to localities.It might have been interesting to learn
something about whether the discourse or concerns at the local level mirrors
the national debate that too-often provides our only birds-eye glimpse into
other countries.

Journalists could bring some attention
to the tax code, something which concerns any government, and look into who is
supposed to pay taxes, who does pay taxes, and how much they pay.A country’s tax code, its ability to collect
revenue, and the way in which it spends public funds offers a more interesting
and illuminating window into its character than the baloney about savage tribes
favoured in too much of the press.

The most common complaint I heard from Kenyans
when I was there in 2012 was the steadily rising price of basic goods: bread, meal
for ugali, vegetables, etc.This in a country which has in the past
experienced famine while in its riches regions plantation owners grow tea,
coffee, and cut flowers for export.Any
of these significant industries could easily be the subject of some reporting,
as could healthcare, the other most basic concern of people everywhere in the
world.Where do most Kenyans turn for
healthcare?To established clinics or
hospitals, to the informal sector that provides many of life’s other
needs?

They could look into the education
system.I know one issue which
preoccupies many Kenyans is the uneven quality of an education which is free at
the primary level but is often accompanied with hidden fees when not a degree
of extortion.Schools are frequently understaffed
and teachers often go lengthy periods of time without pay.Why is this the case?Such issues would be interesting given that
we face similar dilemmas, albeit on a different scale, in our own education
system.

Reporters
could say something about political participation.Kenyan political participation takes the form
of anonymous mobs in most writing that we see in the United States, and it
would be interesting to know whether students, for example, play an important
role in campaigns.Are there labour
organisations, commercial conglomerates, local societies, or other social
groupings that play a role in electioneering?A common suggesting in reporting is that Kenya’s leaders are forever
pulling the wool over the eyes of the wananchi.But they have constituencies who go beyond
simply voting and who are prepared to campaign actively for them.How are these constituencies organised?

These are complex topics, but not ones
on which it would be particularly difficult to research and report.They are topics which could offer more real
insight into Kenyan politics and society than the fare journalists currently
offer up.

If Kenya is really a country of critical
interest to the United States (the cliché that rolls so easily off the press),
maybe we should actually learn something about the country.Maybe—here’s a wild thought—journalists should
do their job in other countries in the same way they do back at home.That might not be the highest bar, but their
coverage is so dreadfully warped, I’m pretty confident that with a little effort
they can easily outdo themselves.Here’s
to hoping.

About Me

I am from Northern California, and am the fifth generation of my family to have lived in the Golden State. Now I live next-door in the Silver State, where I research and write about colonialism and decolonization in Africa, teach European, African, environmental, and colonial history, and write this blog, mostly about politics, sometimes about history, and occasionally about travels or research.